Stoke City are on the top-flight trail

Stoke may not play the beautiful game, but a point against Leicester today will see them promoted

By his own admission, the last day of last season was the lowest point in Tony Pulis's 600-game managerial career. Mamady Sidibe's late equaliser secured a point for Stoke City at Loftus Road, but a victory for Southampton on the Solent tossed Pulis's raggle-taggle smorgasbord of cast-offs, loanees and kids out of the playoffs at the very death.

With summer came the exodus. Before the August transfer window slammed shut, key players Darel Russell, Danny Higginbotham and Carl Hoefkens had fled for pastures wealthier, leaving Stoke to commence the season as 25-1 Championship outsiders, longer odds than Southampton (9-1), Leicester City (14-1) and Sheffield Wednesday (22-1).

Undaunted, Pulis set about bettering himself and his charges. He signed Richard Cresswell, but, as is his trademark, he played the loan market with the sharp-eyed dexterity of a Las Vegas card shark, borrowing 13 players over the course of the season.